THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER | DEVIL IN OHIO | HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL.
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 02/09/2022
Happy Friday, everyone! I’m back to give you some Pop Culture recommendations for your weekend. This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on the most expensive TV show ever, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER. Which is a fine show. Not the best thing in the world like some critics are saying but also not the worst. I talk about a new Netflix series DEVIL IN OHIO and the movie HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. as well. And as always there is a playlist with five songs I enjoyed last week.
QUICK THOUGHTS
DEVIL IN OHIO Is a new Netflix series adapted from Daria Polatin's best-selling book which is loosely based on a real story. It stars Emily Deschanel , Madeleine Arthur, Sam Jaeger, Gerardo Celasco , Xaria Dotson, Alisha Newton , and Naomi Tan. It revolves around Dr. Suzanne Mathis (Emily Deschanel), a hospital psychiatrist, who takes cult escapee Mae (Madeleine Arthur) home with her. However, this sudden decision causes Suzanne's world to turn upside down and endangers to split her family up. There was a lot of potential for this series. And it was exciting in the first two episodes, and it's horrifying to realize that these things have truly happened to someone. Unfortunately, everything quickly became overly melodramatic. The series concentrated more on the family drama and the main character's whining when I wanted to see more of the cult elements. DEVIL IN OHIO is entertaining, but it never pushes beyond what is expected in any way. There was so much more that could have been done to make it incredibly terrifying. The teen angst drama is too dull for my tastes, while the devil cult narrative never gets too frightening. Additionally, it had a rushed, unresolved ending.
HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. Is the directorial debut of writer-director Adamma Ebo. It has Sterling K. Brown stars as Lee-Curtis Childs and Regina Hall as Trinitie Childsshot and it is shot in a mockumentary style. The movie pokes fun at megachurches and people who profit immensely from them, whether financially or otherwise. The Childs congregation once numbered in the tens of thousands, which allowed them to gain considerable money and power in the community. But Trinitie and Lee-Curtis briefly had to close their church due to a scandal. So they have to embark on a comeback journey to reclaim everything they've fought so hard for. The movie paints a horrible portrayal of church communities, yet it's nonetheless entertaining. I would be telling a lie if I said that all of the jokes landed on me, but some actually did work. Also, the dramatic parts are pretty effective. The performances of the main actors are great. They carry the film through its unexpected switches in tone. Hall in particular is incredibly skilled at fusing the comic and the drama. Brown also turns in a terrific performance. The movie is fun to watch but in my opinion, a mini-series would be a better structure for this subject.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER
The heroic legends of the legendary Second Age of Middle-history earth are brought to the small screen for the first time in Prime Video's THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER. This epic drama transports viewers to a time when great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the thinnest of threads, and the greatest villain to ever come from J.R.R. Tolkien's pen threatened to engulf the entire world in darkness. THE RINGS OF POWER is set thousands of years before the events of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The series centers on the creation of the iconic nine rings and the chaotic and destructive reign of the terrible Sauron. The first season of the show reportedly cost around $468 million, making it the most expensive television series ever produced.
I need to start this review by being very honest with you guys. I’m not the biggest THE LORD OF THE RINGS fan. I’ve watched the first trilogy in theaters and I enjoyed them. But I never had the itch to re-watch the movies at home. They are too long and I don’t have the attention span to do so. I also only watched half of the first THE HOBBIT movie and realized that was not for me and never cared about watching the other two. What I’m trying to say here is that I’m not part of the Tolkien fandom.
So, what is my verdict about these two episodes, you may be asking? Well, they are fine. Not as impressive as some critics are saying (at some point the series had a 96% score on RT) but also not as terrible as some are accusing it to be. The show has a diverse cast, that for the most part delivers good performances and the most amazing visuals that I have ever seen in a TV show. Seriously though, everything you have read and heard about the visuals in this series is true. The VFX is outstanding and better than most movies released this year. The cinematography is gorgeous and it has some beautiful landscapes that are great to look at. My main issue with the show is the writing. I’m not going to spoil anything but there are some very cringe dialogues and some motivations that made no sense at all to me. I also think that the writers struggled to identify who this show is aimed for. For instance, there is a brutal and gruesome fight scene that could be on a GOT episode. Totally aimed at adult audiences. But on the other hand, some other scenes are so silly that only thirteen-year-olds would like them.
Overall, I would say that the show is worth watching even if you are not part of THE LORD OF THE RINGS fandom. The visuals alone were enough for me to enjoy my time with the show. There is a lot of noise on the internet right now about THE RINGS OF POWER. Some people are wasting no time dismissing it. But if I were you I would watch the two episodes available and come to your own conclusions. The series is not perfect, I have my issues with it as well, but most of the terrible reviews are just clickbait.
TOP 5 SONGS
These were the 5 songs on heavy rotation in my house last week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.
